AP News, January 12th, 2007
Keba Mbaye, a Senegalese judge who held several high-ranking positions in the International Olympic Committee, has died at 82. The IOC said he died Thursday night at his home in Dakar, Senegal, after a long illness.
Mbaye was an IOC member from 1973-2002, serving as vice president from 1988-1992 and executive board member from 1984-1988 and 1993-1998.
He was president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest tribunal in the Olympic movement, since 1983 and chairman of the IOC ethics commission since 1999.
Mbaye was also a former vice president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
He was a close confidante of former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who appointed him to several key posts.
Mbaye was instrumental in bringing South Africa back into the Olympic fold after the apartheid era. And, at the height of the Salt Lake City bid scandal, Samaranch put him in charge of a new ethics commission to police the conduct of IOC members. He also headed the IOC panel on legal matters.
Mbaye had a distinguished air and was an eloquent speaker.
"Keba Mbaye was one of those men whose humanity and charisma mark you for life," IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a statement. "His devotion to the Olympic movement and its values was unfailing. We have lost a great man."
The Court of Arbitration for Sport also expressed condolences.
"His innate sense of justice and his passion for sport made Keba Mbaye a unanimously recognized and respected personality at the heart of the international sporting community," the CAS said.
